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mon and convenient form of payment for goods. Countries issued their own coins in different sizes and values, but gold and silver were universally accepted as payment. A trader who sold his goods for coins had more flexibility in what he could buy than a trader who had to barter for what he needed. Still later, systems of credit developed where merchants could acquire goods with the promise to pay later when they were sold. Traders in the ancient world had many obstacles to overcome. First were the physical hazards of travel—snow- Different cultures use different calendars to indicate historic time. In the recent past, Western (Christian) cultures have designated the birth of Jesus Christ as year 1. They used the designation BC , meaning “before Christ,” for dates before year 1 and AD , meaning anno domini or the “year of our Lord,” to indicate dates after the birth of Christ. This book uses the designation BCE or “Before the Common Era” instead of BC and CE or “Common Era” instead of AD as a neutral, non-religious way of dating events. One thing to remember when reading ancient times is that for dates des- ignated as BCE (or BC ), the smaller the number, closer the date is to the pres- ent time. For example, 700 BCE is closer to the present than 1500 BCE . However, with dates designated CE (or AD ), the larger the number, the clos- er the year is to the present time. For example, 1500 CE is closer to the pres- ent time than 700 CE . Another confusing thing about dates is the naming of centuries. The sev- enth century BCE extends from the first day of 700 BCE to the last day 601 BCE . The first century BCE starts on the first day of 100 BCE and ends on the last day of 1 BCE . The first century CE covers from 1 to 100 CE . There is no year zero. We are currently in the twenty-first century, which began in 2001 and will end in 2100. About Dates and Calendars

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Global Trade in the Ancient World